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re:Sookie's first time in bed with Vampire Bill: anemic women from around the world might rejoice at this newfound technique for putting blood back into where it came from

shoveling my way through a mind-boggling period of nostalgia about the time in my life when I was a genuine fan of the tv series that's based on this series of books

"The dolphins invade the woods and rush against the oak trees." Ovid's imagery of the flood beats what you might find in Genesis.

"Goldman Sachs did not leave the house before it began to burn. It was merely the first to dash through the exit - and then, it closed the door behind it."

"Guilt was the psychological inspiration of the revolution. Nearly all of these radical intellectuals were acutely conscious of their wealth and privilege."

"Convinced that their own ideas were the key to the future of the world, that the fate of humanity rested on the outcome of their own doctrinal struggles, the Russian Intelligentsia divided up the world into the forces of progress and reaction - friends and enemies of the people's cause, leaving no room for doubters in between.

Here were the origins of the totalitarian worldview."

"The underside of this idealism was a badgering didacticism, a moral dogmatism and intolerance, which, in its own way, was just as harmful as the censorship it opposed."

A spectacular history book so far. Figes writes history so vividly that it's coming alive in my imagination as if it's good fiction.

Goldstein (the Enemy of the People to whom the Two Minute Hate is directed) clearly mirrors Leon Trotsky.

Orwell mentions "Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be seduced by him."

The vast majority of those who were arrested and executed by the Soviet Thought Police for being Trotsky devotees were falsely accused. I wonder if Orwell knew this and intentionally wrote Winston as believing the state's lies.

Trying not to take personally Orwell's implication that a vow of chastity turns women into thoughtless mutant tools of authoritarian oppression. Being both female and ace makes it twice as hard to let this one slide.

So far, lots of exposition with little story. Not very clear how and why totalitarianism started in Britain. Clearly this is describing a lot of the things that were going on in the USSR, but, unlike Britain, that country had never been a representative democracy.

Also I'm very confused re: why the state oppresses sex. It's told as matter of frustrating fact without convincing reason why those policies are in place.

I've loved WEB Du Bois's The Comet, but also counted 5 uses of the word "groped" (none of them about assault), including "groped moodily forward".

On the other hand, we get a gorgeous description of the comet:
"Low on the horizon lay a long, white star - mystic, wonderful! And from it fled upward to the pole, like some wan bridal veil, a pale, wide sheet of flame that lighted all the world and dimmed the stars."

"The galaxy... is in Orion's belt"

"'You learn anything from all this?'
Shadow shrugged.
'I don't know. Most of what I learned in the tree, I've already forgotten. I think I met some people, but I'm not certain of anything anymore.'"

Exactly how I feel about having already read this novel.

Two thirds of the way through. Yes, the narrative is meandering. This is, on a certain level, Gaiman's travel diary - and it seems that he wanted to include every interesting anecdote of his journey, which doesn't help make a streamlined story.

But I did quite enjoy the Lakeside chapters. Much more so than the first part with Wednesday and other deities.

'"So what do I want?" he asked himself.'

- The author's clearly reading my thoughts.

The fact that Shadow has no answer to that question makes sense, since he's been written as emotionally shut down throughout the book . But I wonder if this line was written when Neil was trying to discover the character's motivation for himself.

Finally, a hint of stakes. Thank you, Shadow's dead wife. Now we need to know what Shadow wants in order to make the stakes convincing.

Wednesday's "important places" monologue.
This is the only part I remember from reading this book ten years ago.

Vivid chapter about a wilderness survival trip for camp kids without adult supervision. Loved it.

Louise's phone call with her little brother is the best part of the book so far. Riveting page.

First sign of feeling hooked since the opening five pages.

It reads as closer to literary than genre fiction. Despite that, I am actually enjoying it, which is far from a given with litfic and me.

Good so far, though it does get a bit too writerly for my taste in places. Still waiting to fully hooked.

It's incredible how often the narrative switches between different groups of characters in different locations, without much indication that we've changed scenes. (Maybe there is a visual indication, I don't know, I'm listening to the book).

Feels quite TV-like.

Found myself procrastinating on Good Omens and asking my husband if he could please finish it for me.

Kind of like my grandma used to ask me, when I was headed to brush my teeth and she felt too lazy to get off the couch, to brush her teeth for her too. (Obviously an impossibility, she didn't have the kind of teeth that came out at night)

(My reading brain isn't portable either)

Currently wondering what is wrong with me and why I'm not enjoying a book that everyone else seems to absolutely love. Pondering the mystery of how a story can be enthralling to so many and yet have so little appeal for me.

Took a deep breath, counted to ten, and switched to a different translation (and language). That helped a lot. The 1970 English translation was just not agreeing with me.

My entire body is protesting against returning to the book after the "dialectic" ocean bit. The copy my library has also is the 1970 translation from French, which apparently is bad. I might need to take a breather on this one.

Philosophy jargon and I do not get along.

"the ocean was the product of a dialectical development"

😭 philosophy... nooooooo
*runs away into the sunset*

I think it's great so far (but I can't claim to be unbiased)